Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[Parasaurolophus]

I wonder if it's as much of a math issue as an *autonomy issue; they often prefer getting someone in authority to tell them something explicitly rather than rely on their own ability to follow the prescribed procedure, whether there's math involved or not.

Actually... yeah, that's probably right.

[apl68]

Student cannot figure out how to calculate their grade. It is in the syllabus. I went over it in a video posted to the LMS. I discussed on the class announcement board. I discussed it in person in class. These are future medical professionals in graduate school.

Sigh...

This always makes me despair, because it's really not that hard. And it's one of the few basic math skills that is commonly used outside the high school classroom. Which, for them, was just a couple of years ago. Sigh.

I wonder if it's as much of a math issue as an *autonomy issue; they often prefer getting someone in authority to tell them something explicitly rather than rely on their own ability to follow the prescribed procedure, whether there's math involved or not. It doesn't seem so much like laziness as a lack of understanding of the point of learning to do something themselves. I put it down to growing up with Google, so they expect "the answer" to any question is something someone else already knows, so them having to figure it out is just hoop-jumping. The idea that there's any question that they themselves would have to investigate in order to answer is incomprehensible.

* or perhaps "agency"

I think I get what you're talking about here.  There seems to be so little understanding that education is not about finding "the" answer so much as learning to synthesize knowledge to produce one's own answers.  It's hardly a new problem, but growing up with the magic answer machine at one's fingertips surely tends to reinforce this way of thinking. 

There's also very little creativity on display.  Students who are so disposed can use their digital tools to create all sorts of clever mash-ups between existing pop culture images and video/audio clips.  But not so much their own original content.  It's not a bad place to start trying to be creative, but it's only a start.  I'm not sure how far some of them realize that.

It makes me think sometimes of a young woman with developmental disabilities that we sometimes see here at the library.  She loves to do coloring sheets.  She describes herself as an "artist" because she colors stuff in.  Of course we're not mean enough to correct her on that.  But I do get the impression that a lot of other youths are under a similar delusion regarding some of the mash-ups and fan fiction they create. 

[ergative]

I think I get what you're talking about here.  There seems to be so little understanding that education is not about finding "the" answer so much as learning to synthesize knowledge to produce one's own answers.  It's hardly a new problem, but growing up with the magic answer machine at one's fingertips surely tends to reinforce this way of thinking.   

As with everything else, XKCD has something to say about the types of things that we assume are already known, and the types of things that are hard to find out.

[marshwiggle]

I think I get what you're talking about here.  There seems to be so little understanding that education is not about finding "the" answer so much as learning to synthesize knowledge to produce one's own answers.  It's hardly a new problem, but growing up with the magic answer machine at one's fingertips surely tends to reinforce this way of thinking. 

There's also very little creativity on display.  Students who are so disposed can use their digital tools to create all sorts of clever mash-ups between existing pop culture images and video/audio clips.  But not so much their own original content.  It's not a bad place to start trying to be creative, but it's only a start.  I'm not sure how far some of them realize that.

It makes me think sometimes of a young woman with developmental disabilities that we sometimes see here at the library.  She loves to do coloring sheets.  She describes herself as an "artist" because she colors stuff in.  Of course we're not mean enough to correct her on that.  But I do get the impression that a lot of other youths are under a similar delusion regarding some of the mash-ups and fan fiction they create.

In addition to the things you mention, they've grown up in a world with endless remakes of movies, TV shows, etc. so that they rarely see anything actually new, compared to even a few decades ago. (And even some that don't seem like remakes are adaptations of things from other countries, and so on.)

[the_geneticist]

I wonder if it's as much of a math issue as an *autonomy issue; they often prefer getting someone in authority to tell them something explicitly rather than rely on their own ability to follow the prescribed procedure, whether there's math involved or not.

Actually... yeah, that's probably right.

My bet is on a combination of lack of autonomy + wishful denial.
If you don't know your grade, then you don't know you are failing. Plus, there is the eternal hope and magical thinking that they will pass no matter what:  extra credit? Rounding? Lowering cutoffs for letter grades? Begging?

[dr_evil]

My bet is on a combination of lack of autonomy + wishful denial.
If you don't know your grade, then you don't know you are failing.

Would that be something like Schrodinger's grade?

I have a classic this semester: "Since everyone in this class is failing, not just me, you must be a horrible instructor." Hmmm...odd that someone in your section also had the highest grade on the exam, one of the best grades I've ever had on that test.

[Biologist_]

Yeah, that's particularly headbanging-worthy, Parasaurolophus.

In other quiz-related shenanigans, a student nearly handed in his quiz with no name on it. Apparently he handed in the previous with no name, either. The quiz before that? Didn't take it. Somehow I'm not very optimistic about his chances of passing...

A good student in my class has forgotten to write his name on two quizzes so far this term. The first time, I was able to figure out whose score was missing when I entered the grades in the spreadsheet. The second time, I recognized the handwriting and just filled in the name right away.

[FishProf]

Why would you do that for him/her?  If they don't know they are doing it, they'll never change.

[mamselle]

+1

They're teaching you "learned helpfulness."

M.

[the_geneticist]

Ugh, I have so many absent students.  Some are for medical or other emergency (COVID isolation, hospitalized, injured in car crash).  Others need to learn what is meant by the word "emergency". Sleeping in, maybe being exposed to someone who might have COVID, and needing to study for an exam in another class are not "emergencies".  Go. To. Class.
Or take the 0 and call it a fair trade for a lesson learned.

[mythbuster]

I hear you geneticist, This is the week for the excuse emails that have the generic phrase "I've been struggling".  Usually couples with some plan to turn things in over a week late. They keep hoping that by having is generic struggle email, I won't apply the late penalty. They keep being disappointed in that regard.

[Puget]

Stu wants to go over exam, says multiple choice questions were "so confusing" and she remembers me saying something different in class than the right answer. We spend a long time talking about study strategies (she's not using good ones), she is cagy about my question about studying from notes, so I ask outright if she is taking notes. No, she is not. I think we have a diagnosis then. She is a sophomore. BANG BANG BANG.

[marshwiggle]

I hear you geneticist, This is the week for the excuse emails that have the generic phrase "I've been struggling". 

"Welcome to life."

[the_geneticist]

I hear you geneticist, This is the week for the excuse emails that have the generic phrase "I've been struggling".  Usually couples with some plan to turn things in over a week late. They keep hoping that by having is generic struggle email, I won't apply the late penalty. They keep being disappointed in that regard.

We are the crushers of dreams, you and I. 

[Stockmann]

Yeah, that's particularly headbanging-worthy, Parasaurolophus.

In other quiz-related shenanigans, a student nearly handed in his quiz with no name on it. Apparently he handed in the previous with no name, either. The quiz before that? Didn't take it. Somehow I'm not very optimistic about his chances of passing...

A good student in my class has forgotten to write his name on two quizzes so far this term. The first time, I was able to figure out whose score was missing when I entered the grades in the spreadsheet. The second time, I recognized the handwriting and just filled in the name right away.

Hmmm... to my surprise, he actually got a perfect score on the quiz he did submit with no name. In any case, with over 50 students in this section, I can't be playing Sherlock Holmes with students who don't put their names on stuff. I made an announcement that in the future quizzes with no name will not be graded.
In other developments, several students are complaining about the upcoming exam's date and time, that they have a clash with work, etc. The date and time have been in the syllabus since day 1. I don't set the time, etc, the Chair does. For various reasons, it can't really be changed unless there's some force majeure situation. For those that don't take it, the final will replace it. I'm not looking forward to the likely situation of students complaining that they can't take the final and they didn't take this exam.